Wild Sand chapter 1
Yu-gi-oh crossover with Ranma 1/2
by Naquiel
Disclaimer - Ranma and Yu-gi-oh don't belong to me so please don't sue.
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Chapter 1
Ranma was on his futon, his legs still crossed, but he was laying on the futon with his back and the floor with his head, the Puzzle in his hands. His eyes were open and his mind alive as he processes all of Yami's memories and personality, assimilating all spiritual data and incorporating it with his own. It became clear, to him, the apparent strengths and weaknesses of his two personalities, Ranma had greater control over his martial techniques and experience with modern society and lifestyles where as Yami had the magical skill, social knowledge and skill. A similar thing was evident with their powers, Ranma's Chi skills and large aura, and Yugi's Sa, the power of the Shadow Realm, and his powerful mystic corona. The person who looked out of Ranma's eyes and thought with his mind, wasn't Ranma and he wasn't Yami, he was both, yet neither. Where Ranma was arrogant, his fusion had pure confidence, where Yami was short-tempered, his fusion had a decent patience, but a horrible temper when his patience reached its end. Ultimately he was a completely different person.
Perhaps I will keep the name Ranma, thought the fused entity; after all I am living his/my life. He checked his mind to sort out what had happened and found that it still hurt when he thought about his Mother, and yet he was reassured that his emotions hadn't changed.
Ranma spent the night thinking things over until he got fed up and went to the Dojo.
Ranma started a kata before he even got there, dancing amongst the stone paths and Koi pond. He went through thirty katas in seconds, a task that few other martial artists could hope to do at his age. During that morning he learnt how much his martial artistry had improved, not a bit. All in all, it was fine and dandy to Ranma, he couldn't trust things that weren't gained through sweat and blood. He was glad for something, Yami's magic would take sometime to manifest and a while of training to bring to the surface.
"Hey, Sis," asked Nabiki, tiredly rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she came down the stairs and into the kitchen, her sister's domain. "What's that noise coming from the Dojo?" The noise she was referring to be the occasional cracking noises and sonic booms that could be heard in the kitchen.
Kasumi's ever-cheerful smile answered, "Ranma's training."
Nabiki looked at her sister and frowned, "How long?"
"Since before I got up," smiled Kasumi.
Abruptly the noises stopped and after being heralded by the rapid sound of footfalls, Ranma emerged from the back door. Ranma had a smile on his face, a sweat-sodden shirt in his right-hand, wearing a spare, clean shirt and he held his pigtail in his left. He wore a golden downward-pointing pyramid pendant 8cm tall, hanging by some string. The girls were shocked to see it. Ranma and jewelry just didn't go well together. And, yet, here Ranma was wearing a rather large piece of jewelry.
"Thanks Kas-chan. Oh, I've already had breakfast and if anyone needs me I'll be in the Dojo!"
He bounced out the door on his way to the Dojo, soon the sound of battered concrete crumbling could be heard.
It was then that Nabiki and Kasumi had the same, unprovoked, thought, 'I wish Daddy didn't engage him to Akane. No good will-come from it.' Then again, they were the ones that gave him to Akane something that at that moment they regretted, especially with the knowledge of what had occurred, since the engagement came to light.
Ranma walked down a street filled with clothes stores. He was alone but for a handful of people shopping or passing through. He made a beeline to his favorite clothes shop, one that had the largest array of Chinese silk clothes in the whole district of Nerima, if not all of Tokyo.
He entered the shop. It was filled with racks that displayed the various silk clothes, and all the furniture, even the walls, were either wooden, or had wooden panels. Ranma liked this shop so much, not because of the prices or the large selection, but because of the kindly old gentleman that ran the clothes store.
"Ah, Ranma, good to see you again!" stated a nearby rack of clothes, just before an aged man walked from behind it.
Ranma was too used to the old man's antics to be phased by them, "Nice to see ya Gramps! Got any good silk shirts and pants?"
"Oh, so you don't want to talk to this old man. It's just 'silk shirts' this, and 'silk pants' that." He said sorrowfully.
Ranma laughed nervously and scratched the back of his neck with his right hand. "Okay, ya wanna talk, alright!"
"Wooo. Now give me all the gossip," ordered the old man cheerfully.
Ranma sweat-dropped at the old man. For some reason the friendly old man was a real gossipmonger! Probably because he was so old!
Two hours of two-way gossip later, Ranma came out of the store with a carrier bag full of silk clothes. Two sets of his usual clothes and one set for special occasions. The formal wear was a black pair of pants with a silver Eastern Dragon curling around the right leg, the shirt was also black with a silver Eastern Dragon coiled around his chest, the head coiling around the right arm.
Ranma did a high kick for no apparent reason, the same moment an annoying kendoist ran towards him with a brokken. Kuno just suddenly, flew backwards and into unconsciousness.
A second distortion in the air was caused by another, weaker high kick, causing a wave of condensed air to strike the boy, with enough force to render him unconscious for a few more hours than the initial one.
"That idiot will just not learn! Neither will Royoga or Mousse, but at least they're a challenge," He continued muttering darkly about idiots and weaklings as he walked the Dojo.
Later that day, the hall telephone rang, and Kasumi went to answer it. She came back into the kitchen with the wireless handset and from there, she walked out to the Dojo, where Ranma had gone into shortly after coming home, muttering to himself. When she got to the Dojo she was amazed to see what she saw. Ranma was sitting cross-legged in the center of the Dojo with his cerulean aura burning around him, he shot out his hands from his sides at time, causing a small sonic boom and with air pressure chopped a brick of concrete in half, 10 meters away.
She called to him and his aura dissipated.
"Phone call, Ranma."
"Who is it," asked Ranma not moving from his position, thinking about his unarmed revision of Kuno's techniques.
"It's you mother!" Kasumi nearly jumped out her skin as suddenly Ranma was next to her, gently taking the phone, put it to his ear and mouthing a thank-you.
Kasumi turned and walked back to her kitchen, her mind on what could be made for dinner.
"Yeah, Mom," said Ranma worriedly thinking, 'what if she's needing medical attention', etc.
"Son, I'd like to see you, please come to my home!" said Nodaka from the other side of the line.
"Mom. Is something wrong?" asked Ranma.
"No, dear. Why, should there be?" asked Nodaka curiously.
"Okay then, I'll come now!"
An hour later Ranma is sitting in his mother's living room, finishing off his tea when his mother began to explain why she called him.
"Well, son. After your father and yourself went on your training trip, I became bored. I tried getting part-time jobs, but they made me depressed. I tried stamp collecting, but I just didn't take to it, then I discovered Duel Monsters, this wonderful card game. You see an old friend of mine runs a Duel Monster store, with some other card games included, but mainly Duel Monsters. I went to visit her at her shop and I was amazed at how wonderful Duel Monsters were, particularly after I was a spectator at a match. So I arranged for a starter pack and a few boosters and my friend offered me this discount, on the condition that I help her every Easter, her busiest time of the year.
"I was in a win-win situation, an activity involving something I was interested in and allowed to evolve my hobby further. I have amassed an awfully powerful deck and well, I found that Duel Monsters are quite popular at your school at the moment and I would like you to have them, after all I won't have a use for them soon." Nodaka gazed in the reflective surface of her tea, seeing her own face and the ceiling, both warped, for some reason it seemed ironic!
She was surprised when she felt strong fingers take her cup and embrace her. Ranma didn't say anything just held his mother as she began sobbing. As she wept, Ranma felt a single droplet run down his face.
"Thanks, Mom. I'll make you proud." he choked out.
"I guess I'll need to teach you, dear son." Chuckled Nodaka, wiping her tears away daintily with a cotton handkerchief.
"Um, not really I already know a bit about Duel Monsters, ah, from school." Replied Ranma hesitatingly.
"Oh, well. Can't have everything. Son, let me show you some of my cards, well," she smiled, "Your cards, now."
They sat, side by side and Nodaka showed Ranma some of her, now his best cards.
She held up two cards with odd magic-eye patterns on the back, the kind you need to get your eyes just right to see. "You, now, have in your possession one of the four existing Blue Eyes White Dragons and one of the nine existing Red Eyes Black Dragons. In fact a little birdie told me that the four Blue Eyes White Dragons when brought together and aligned in a certain way would create a God card, but only if in conjunction with a fifth unknown card and a Polyerisation magic card."
"Really, Mum! What is it? Is it true?"
"Oh, Kami-sama himself probably knows but we mere mortals, don't have a clue!" she laughed, "In fact there is a similar rumor about the Red Eye Black Dragon, quite ridiculous really." Said Nodaka thoughtfully.
"What rumor?"
"It's really quite impossible, ridiculous and impractical, but, if you want. The story goes like this. Um... you do know about the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon? Three Blue Eyes White Dragons fused together."
"Yeah," replied Ranma, his curiosity growing.
"Well the story is to bring all nine Red Eyes together and to fuse them into three Red Eyes Ultimate Dragons, and apparently after fusing them into the ultimate state, to fuse the ultimate dragons into one dragon. A god dragon of all things, similar to the Blue Eyes White Dragons rumored 'supreme' form. Quite ridiculous, nine cards can't fuse together no matter what steps you take, only five monsters can be placed on the field."
Ranma frowned and thought to himself, this is new, I knew of no fourth or fifth god card, fusion's or otherwise! This will bear further looking into!
"Oh, and finally," stated his mother as she drew another card from the still tall deck, "The Head of Exodia. Exodia is made of five pieces, once assembled he destroys all enemy monsters and you automatically win. However Exodia's pieces are unique, with only one copy worldwide, and it is exceptionally hard to assemble them all. The pieces can also be played as monsters, the head at 1000/1000 and the limbs at 300/400. Don't forget that you now have a great deal more cards than just the ones I have shown you."
"It's a great deck, Mom. How did you get such powerful cards?" asked Ranma.
"Well, it was mostly luck and gut instinct, really. I am really quite proud of it. Well, Taka gave me a box, that I would choose, out of her inventory, you see, and I would pick two or just one booster pack from each. Every time I did it I went with just a feeling I had, it's done quite well for me."
"Well, Mom, you have..."
"You. You, have. I have just given them to you!"
"Yeah, well, um. I have one piece of Exodia and One each of two of the rarest dragon cards there are, along with a God card. Well, as good as this is, I think I'll do my best to get all the rarest cards!"
"That's my Son," laughed Nodaka as she hugged her son, her face beaming at his enthusiasm.
Besides, Ranma thought, Ill need these to get to the other Millenium Items.
Ranma was in his room with a map, his new deck, and his Millenium Puzzle on his futon. He had the end of the Puzzles string in one hand and the Blue Eyes White Dragon card in the other. The puzzle was waving its' point around the top of the map, with Ranma observing closely.
So, my senses are right, there are three other Blue Eyes Whites Dragons about in Nerima, pity however that my powers haven't emerged enough to pinpoint them. From what Mother mentioned, there are only three other Blue Eyes White Dragon. Mother also mentioned there was a secret to them all being together: something about if the cards are all together, face down and in a certain pattern, their backs show data for a new Dragon, a god type. But could only be seen and activated by a fifth unknown card and a Polyerisation magic card.
Apparently only a select few were privy to that knowledge, Ranma felt honored and sleepy.
Ranma was awoken by a wave of cold water. He, now she, groaned as she heard the screech of, "Wake up, you Pervert!"
His bleary eyes opened to look at her sometimes-cute-most-of-the-time-evilly-twisted face and muttered something about her being a tomboy. She was already out the room, so thankfully, Ranma wasn't to be malleted, for now.
Ranma walked along the Canal wall, with Akane fuming down on the pavement, scowling at the reminder of how much better Ranma was as a Martial Artist. Soon the reached the gates of the school where Akane proceeded to beat up the mob of boys that had reformed recently.
Akane was in a sea of groaning, moaning forms in short time. A single boy came from behind a tree and started talking in Shakespeare's-turning-in-his-grave literature.
"Truly are a boorish lot," stated the boy with his brokken unsheathed. "Akane Tendo, I would date with thee." He charged and prepared to fight his beloved tigress, until he found a fist in his gut, forcing him back thirteen meters.
"Hiya, Kuno," smiled Ranma at the red-faced boy. "I thought it was you who started this up again."
The boy, got up and prepared his kendo stance to defeat the foul sorcerer, after all the incident outside the clothes shops was mere dark magic. Nothing can stand against his righteous wrath. Yeah, right!
"Hey Kuno," smiled Ranma 'The foul sorcerer' Saotome, "I have just made up this technique, that I just have to try out. Since Royoga isn't about, you'll have to do."
Ranma took a side-ways stance with his stretched arm, with his palm facing Kuno. "Let me introduce you to Beta-ha-fu Inferuno!" (Better Half of an Inferno) A sheet of flame exploded from under Kuno and above him, pining him and scorching him in heat and flame, at the same time, Ranma released a rain of chi spheres at his opponent. The spheres didn't hit Kuno, but missed him, instead started to circle him, a stream of red dust, the next second the fire and chi turned into a tornado, akin to a miniature, Amazon patented, Dragon Ascension Blast. All this took a second and a half, the tornado last two more seconds. This was the technique at it's weakest, proved by the face that Kuno was still standing.
"Ha, the evil Sorcerer's magic fail in the face of a noble hear..." he swooned from dehydration and Ranma was already walking into the school.
Nabiki looked from her window, her slaves... Uh, her colleagues clustered around her, or taking bets and reporting losses and profits. She noticed the unusual way in which Ranma dealt with Kuno. Normally, Ranma punted Kuno into lower Earth orbit, but today he took the trouble to utilize a chi technique, one like she had never seen.
She nearly purred when she thought about how many people would like to know of Ranma's new technique, as a warning and as something else, it didn't matter to her, just as long as she got paid.
No one bothered Ranma for the rest of the day until lunch when Akane sat next to him.
"Why'd you do that to him?" she spat.
"Why, are you admitting you like Kuno?" said Ranma snidely, his Yami side really fed-up of what Ranma had to deal with, a lot of it originating from this girl. This how- ever was him, allowing his anger to be vented towards Akane, to get rid of her. It didn't work.
"No, it was my fight. You shouldn't have interfered!"
"Look, after what I did to Kuno you'll be free of him for a few days, and the boys that follow Kuno have a little food for thought, so you'll be free of them at least for today and tomorrow. Now go away, I was enjoying my food!"
Akane was too angry to do anything but comply, a succulent rarity.
At the end of the day, Ranma was walking home alone Akane giving him the cold shoulder, which was fine for Ranma. Whatever love for Akane that may have existed was eroded away by the malletings, the insults, long before the fusion of Ranma and Yami.
He was thinking of what Hiroshi and Daisuke were talking about earlier:
'"Hey Ranma, man." laughed Hiroshi, "Daisuke is killing my monsters here!"
They were in the Cafeteria close to a large tree on the edge of the grounds; the benches were old haunts for Duelists.
Ranma came over and observed Daisuke and Hiroshi's Duel Monsters Game. They talked away amicably throughout, laughing at jokes and moaning dramatically when they lost a monster or a card. He sat next to them and observed their play. Hiroshi was basing his attacks on fire-type monsters and boosts, while Daisuke was basing his on wind-type monsters and traps. It came down to two cards, both of their life-points at two hundred. Hiroshi played The Flame-Swordsman (1800/1600) while Daisuke played his Winged Dragon Guardian of the Fortress (1400/1200) both in defense mode.
Daisuke equalized his Dragon with the Swordsman with a magic card, called Scales of Power which brought both cards to (1600/1400) and also placed down Spellbinding Circle to protect the dragon by trapping the Flame-Swordsman if he attacked.
Hiroshi used Salamandra to boost his Flame-Swordsman to (2100/1900) and also used his Harpies Feather Duster to destroy all trap and magic cards on his opponent's side.
Daisuke placed a magic card face down on the boards.
He then used a card called Best Things in Life are Free.
The card made it so that even in defense mode if the opponents monster is destroyed, there is still a toll on the life points, however, the players own monster [1 monster only] is immune for same three turns from any toll on the life points.
Hiroshi used Chaos Shield to protect his monster and ended his turn by placing a trap card, No Defense.
Daisuke turned over his hidden card, De-spell and placed a card called Horn of Heaven. De-spell negated Hiroshi's defenses and Horn of Heaven sacrificed his Winged Dragon to kill 1 enemy monster. Therefore Daisuke won by a whisker, not losing his 200 points due to the effects of the Best Things in Life are Free magic card.
Daisuke did a small jig in his seat and gathered his cards. Hiroshi did the same, minus the jig, not in the least annoyed that he lost a game. "So Ranma, we hear tales that you are now a duelist!"
Ranma frowned and opened his mouth to ask, but it was so obvious, Nabiki, the mercenary information gatherer and blackmailer. He shook his head; he would have to deal with her. "Yeah, I am now!"
"Cool, wanna duel?"
Ranma smirked innocently, "Me with a great champion duelist like yourself? Sure"
Daisuke blushed and scratched the back of his head. "Well, I am good!"
Soon both of them were in position, Ranma swapping seats with Hiroshi.
Ranma started with a defensive strategy that his mother taught him. Multiply, and in defense.
Daisuke used his Winged Dragon and attacked, destroying Ranma's monster, or so he thought. When Ranma didn't take the monster card of it's place, Daisuke looked at him questioningly.
"Don't you know that any monster with attack power less than 500 hundred can be multiplied by the multiply magic card? Daisuke, you destroyed only one of my multiplied Basic Insects, not all of them. This is a powerful defense, learn it.
"You see," He chatted as he drew two more cards from his deck, "With my Basic Insect being multiplied many times, and in defense mode. No matter how many you destroy, I won't lose any points and through out I can utilize a specific strategy that uses this to my advantage." He put down another card, in front of the wide-eyed Daisuke, Chaos Shield. "For example by combining Multiply and Chaos Shield, my field has now become an impenetrable wall, separating itself from your field."
Daisuke thought, huh, Ranma's crap at card games, how is he so good all of a sudden! Daisuke brought his attention to the game and saw that the Chaos shield provided a protection to the Basic Insects and another card was placed down by Ranma, Spell-binding circle. That meant Daisuke couldn't attack him or his shield with monsters or magic, therefore he would focus on setting traps.
Ranma looked at the determined face of Daisuke as he choose his next card Dragon Nails to enhance his Winged Dragon (1800/1600), and a trap card, Roaring Tide, a deflector of water and wind attacks.
Ranma plucked two cards from his hand that he put down, facedown, Magical Ghost (1300/1400) and The Sword of Dark Destruction, which raised the Magical Ghost's power to 1700/1600.
Daisuke enhanced his dragon further by using Invigoration and laying another monster card Curse of Dragon.
Ranma put down the King of Ghost, which brought up his zombie-type Magical Ghost by 200 attack points every turn. Magical Ghost: 1900/1600.
Daisuke continued to boost up his Winged Dragon, and then polymerized Winged Dragon (2400/2000) with Curse of Dragon (2000/1500) to create Accursed Dragon (2800/2500). Daisuke smiled, Ranma couldn't possibly defeat his combo! Then he saw Ranma smile.
Ranma knew his presently played monsters weren't strong enough to defeat this new monster, even with his Magical Ghost now at 2100/1600, however he had a plan. He put down Dark Magician (2500/2100) and used polymerization to fuse Magical Ghost and Dark Magician along with the giant pumpkin, King of Ghost, to create Dark King Ghost (3000/2800).
Ranma learnt however all that would achieve was making a superb victory, not the close call that he thought, as he drew Harpies Feather Duster and placed it face-up, decimating Daisuke. The traps present were destroyed, along with a few magic cards that were face down, waiting to be played. Ranma them put his Chaos Shield in the discard pile, in an apparent suicide maneuver.
It was then that Daisuke had his turn, he attacked with a new monster, Celtic Guardian (1400/1200), at Ranma's Basic Insect, and multiplied the monster with Elegant Egotist, hoping that he could create an equal number of monsters to Ranma's own Basic Insects.
Ranma shook his head, and turned over his facedown cards. Daisuke saw Ranma had Basic Insect, The Dark Magician, The Magical Ghost and The King of Ghost monster cards, his magic and trap cards consisted of The Dark Sword of Destruction, Multiply, of course, and Polyerisation that had been used on the three dark monsters. Daisuke made a quick mental calculation and gulped. Then he smiled.
"I don't think there is any doubt about who'll win, is there Ranma?" he laughed, "I give-up!"
Ranma and Dasuke collected their cards and Hiroshi spoke up. "Wow, you're good Ranma. Have you thought about entering the Duelists competition?"
Ranma looked blankly. "Huh!"
"Jeez, man," laughed Daisuke cheerfully. "The whole school has been buzzing with it! Illustrated Illusions have donated loads of the latest in Duelist Holo-stadiums to schools over the country; we were lucky enough to get one. To celebrate it, the school is having a competition using the Holo-stadium, tomorrow!"
"What is the prize?"
"You'll never guess!"
"I won't have to if you tell me!"
"A real beauty of a card, a Blue Eyes White Dragon! One of the four in the world and the winner gets to go to a inter-school competition along with the second and third runner-ups! And after that, it's inter-country; no one actually knows anything about the ultimate prize except that it is a unique card. Everyone's talking about it! Some think it's one of the legendary God type cards!"'
And now as Ranma walked home, thinking about it, he found the idea tempting. To get all of the Blue Eyes White Dragon, a nearly impossible task, would make his mothers last days perhaps more happy. Even if it was a slim chance, he had to do it!
That night Ranma was, once again, on his futon. He held the puzzle in one hand and the deck in the other, he was cross-legged and in his sleeping gear. In a small flash a few cards appeared floating in the air in front of Ranma and slid silently into the deck, under Ranma's scrutiny. Ranma put away the deck and prepared to sleep.
He was smiling as he lay down to sleep. He had just summoned Yami's best cards, the Accended Angels, seven cards that were both, monsters, with effects, and magic cards. They were good for a pinch and very flexible.
As he slept, the telephone rang, shortly answered by a still-awake Kasumi, who after taking the call barged into Ranma's room and shook him awake.
"Ranma, Hiroshi's been in an accident, Ranma!" she shouted at Ranma.
Ranma grasped her by the upper arms and demanded an explanation.
A few hours later Ranma was at the hospital. After asking where he was, Ranma rushed to Hiroshi's room, where his mother, father and Daisuke, who phoned Nabiki earlier, were waiting by Hiroshi's still form, encased in bandages, well his legs and right hand, at any rate. Hiroshi heard him and asked his to come closer.
"Dude what happened to you?" asked Ranma concerned.
"Car, me, big bang against my legs and my arm. You know, nothing much." he made light of it, but Ranma could tell there was something, Hiroshi wanted to tell him but couldn't because his family and Daisuke.
Ranma gave a look and a gesture. They all understood, and quietly left.
Ranma brought his attention to Hiroshi, "What is it man?"
Hiroshi laughed, "I wanted to go to that competition, Ranma. You know, show everyone that I could do something, even if I did lose, at least I could show them all, that I had the will to try! You know?"
Ranma nodded: smiling in comprehension.
"Ranma I'm not going to be going to the competition now, but I would feel better if a part of me went!" Hiroshi used his undamaged hand to reach to his bedside table and pick up a leather case, containing a deck of Duel Monster cards. He flicked it open on his chest, brought the deck out and slowly went through each one of them, looking for one in particular. He smiled when he found it and passed it to Ranma, it was the right leg of Exodia, he looked for another card and handed it to Ranma, the Crush Virus trap card, along with Dark Swords Man (2600/2300).
"They are my best cards. The right leg of Exodia is useless in and of itself, however it can be played at 300/400, infect it with the Crush Virus trap card and it will infect the enemy. The enemy can't use anything over 1500 attack points, that doesn't stop them enhancing their cards with magic though. When that happens you can slaughter them with Dark Swords Man, especially if you use Harpies Feather Duster in the same turn. Please, use them at the competition. If you find yourself incapable, I won't blame you. Just, if you can."
Ranma looked hard at the cards. "You have one of the Exodia cards?"
"No, I'm giving them to you for good!"
"You misunderstand me, YOU have, okay, had an Exodia card!"
"Yeah, I got it in a booster pack ages ago."
Ranma smiled, "That means I now have two pieces of Exodia now!"
Hiroshi's eye widened and his mouth imitated a fish.
"I have the body and now the right leg of Exodia. It's gotta be Karma!"
The next day Ranma was awoken by Akane in her customary fashion by followed by a kick to the ribs that did little but tickle, even if it had the force to crack concrete. The night before, Ranma went from the hospital reassured that Hiroshi was stable and was going to be all right, just bed-ridden for the few months.
Instead of going to school that morning, Ranma went to his mother's home, where she taught him more about duel monsters, her personnel experiences and strategies. Ranma hadn't the heart he knew most of what she said, by heart, but what he didn't know; he absorbed like a dry sponge. This continued until six, when Nodaka and her son left to go to Fruikan high.
Ranma was going to compete, thought Nodaka. His first professional, well, semi-professional tournament.
She was half worried that he would do well, and half-worried he would do badly. If he found it too easy or too difficult, his motivation could die. The best battle for him was a tough one but one that he could win, because if he could, he would.
They took a taxi to the High School, however, at the school, sinister things were happening.
The door to the vice-principal's office opened with a squeak as a dark figure walked into the room, stealthily and silently.
The shadowy figure crept to the briefcase, containing the prize card. The shadow-covered person thought to itself, it's not stealing. I'll win it anyway. I'm just getting my prize early. That's all!
He/She/It opened the slim briefcase and took the slip of thin card.
Ranma and his mother arrived at the school gates. Ranma paid the cab driver, grumbling about the price, and followed his mother in doors.
After three hours of getting registered, Ranma arranged a seat for his mother, and waited for all the contestants to be arranged. The first battle began between two kids a year younger than Ranma. He was Blue 5, in the blue podium for battle no. 5. Ranma observed the other four battles closely, analyzing their strategies and assimilating their styles.
Five minutes before the battle no.5, Ranma took out his deck and used his chestnuts-roasting-over-an-open-fire revision Evolving Deck, where he used the great speed to rearranged his deck without people seeing his strategies.
Then it came about, battle no. 5. Saotome Ranma, and Tendo Nabiki.
There was a spotlight of illumination, making the Duelists, in their podiums, visible.
"In the Red podium, Tendo Nabiki," There was a small smattering of applause.
"And in the Blue podium, Saotome Ranma," following this was both the spotlight illumination and a great deal of enthusiastic cheering from Nabiki-haters.
"Ladies and gentlemen, to start the fields off, Tendo Nabiki has requested her half to be wasteland and Saotome Ranma has requested graveyard territory, and as this is our first Duel their requests have been granted by the judges! Now let's Duel!"
"So, Ranma will you play first or shall I?" Smirked Nabiki, the Ice-queen of Fruikan.
"After you, of course," smiled Ranma pleasantly. They both took the first six cards from their deck and made them into hands. Ranma smiled as he saw his cards: Dark Magician (2500/2100), Summoned Skeleton (2500/1200), Sword Stalker (2400/1800), the magic cards: Call of the Haunted, Polyerisation and the trap card: SpellBinding Circle. Perfect, he thought, but put on a grim face, making Nabiki think he had drawn a bad hand, which she bought if the smile on her face was of any inclination.
Nabiki put down a Harpies Lady (1600/1750) and ended her turn.
Ranma put down both Dark Magician and Summoned Skeleton and ended his turn after drawing two new cards: magic cards - Invigoration and Black hole.
Nabiki put down Cyber Armor increasing her monsters' defense and drew a new card.
Ranma smiled, she was trying to make him slip up, by only acting one every turn, a costly mistake. He put down Sword Stalker and Black hole.
Nabiki could only watch in horror as the holographic image showed her monster and even Ranma's own monsters, all three of them, being sucked into a black hole never to return. She looked at Ranma, again with the annoying smirk, looking expectantly at her life-point meter - it fell from 2000 to 1200.
Nabiki was breathing heavily at the damage she had sustained, part out of anger and part out of frustration. She slowly smiled as she saw Ranma's life-points meter, expecting it to fall, and when it didn't she looked at Ranma, who mouth 'defense mode.'
She looked at her hand, full of magic cards and trap cards, without a monster, she couldn't play, she needed to draw a monster from her deck or lose the game. She slowly reached for her deck and lifted a card from it, he looked at it and saw it was her 2nd Harpies Lady card, she gleefully placed it down on the panel and waited for Ranma's reaction.
This was what he was counting on; Nabiki's comeback, now he could really get the game started. He put down Call of the Haunted, which resurrected his monsters as zombies. His zombie Dark Stalker used its' natural ability to call forth the wasted life energies of a fallen ally and as the others were zombies, they didn't need it. Zombie Dark Stalker was raised on par with the Dark Magician at 2500/2100. Instead of attacking the shocked Nabiki, he used the magic Polyerisation card on his three Zombies. The result being a humanoid skeleton with demonic visages, a large sword and intermittent purple rings sunk into its' undead flesh.
"Let me introduce, Magicked Zombie Stalker!" stated Ranma in a normal tone, only showing some small part of his enormous ego.
It was powered up to 3200/2600 along with the field power bonus and death points, which increased every time it died.
Nabiki couldn't understand it, she thought Ranma would be a push-over, even though she heard stories from Daisuke, but here he was, just creating a monster more powerful that what she could hope to enhance her Harpies Lady and in only a few turns. All she could do was raise the defense and give more targets to aim at. She used another Cyber Armor, (2000/1750) along with an Elegant Egotist to both juice-up their defense points by tripling the Harpies each turn.
Ranma sees this and smirked as he put down the Change of Heart card, which gave him control over a Harpies Lady, for 1 turn, then he put down a magic card called Re-flip which allowed Ranma to make three more moves in that turn.
Nabiki couldn't believe it as one of her own juiced up Harpies Ladies joined the other side, however that was to come, during Ranma's three extra moves, made it nothing in comparison.
Ranma placed a Polyerisation card down on the panel and as a result the zombie monster merged with the Harpies Lady, changing very little except being much more lithe and floating. Ranma then gave it an attack power boost with Invigoration. And then for his final-move, he ordered the zombie to attack all the Harpy Ladies with its' Gale Force Decaying Breath.
Nabiki didn't know that you could steal another player's monster and fuse it with another, it just wasn't done, it' couldn't be! She stared coldly at the projection as her Harpy Ladies began to rot and fall down as corpses, she blinked as her life-points went down to zero.
"And there you have it, Ladies and Gentlemen. Saotome Ranma is the Winner." called the announcer's voice. Ranma went down the escalator-cum-floor and went back to his seat in the competitor's area. Nabiki did the same, sparing an odd glance at Ranma.
Ranma had three more one-sided battle like that until he reached the top beside someone else, Kuno Tatewaki. The samurai obsessed moron was in the Blue podium and Ranma in the Red. The field was 100% wasteland.
"Ha, here in the field on strategy and battle, I reign supreme. You, evil sorcerer, shall fall to my feet. Ha, ha, ha." laughed Kuno insanely as Ranma calmly rearranged his deck, put it down and then drew his hand.
Ranma had just as he planned, his Blue Eyes White Dragon, his Red Eye Black Dragon, kept to the side in case Kuno's money got him some powerful cards, his Castle of Dark Illusion, Spell-binding Circle and Polyerisation.
Kuno had finished his spiel about Ranma being a lost soul for going against him and had picked his hand.
Ranma went first by placing down his Castle of Dark Illusion. Then he put down Spellbinding Circle, facedown. A holographic image of a castle floating in the air with mists of pure darkness flowing from it to consume Ranma's wasteland field appeared above the field.
"Ha, darkness itself is no match for the power in my hand." laughed Kuno as he put down two cards, which appeared as holographic images. "Behold my two Blue eyes White Dragon!" The two dragons roared.
Ranma's eye widened and then became steely in determination. Ranma put down multiply and Basic Insect, to re-create the shield/defense system he used with Daisuke.
Kuno laughed, despite his inability to see Ranma's cards and put down another monster card facedown.
Ranma noticed it and his eyes widened, another Blue Eyes White Dragon card. The innate power represented by it was so great; he didn't need to consciously 'look' at it with his magic.
Ranma then looked at the briefcase beside the vice-principal, there was no card in it, what magic he had harnessed told him that. Ranma placed down the Chaos Shield card and Polyerisation, facedown.
With all of his Basic Insects in defense mode and with the Chaos Shield, he was, for now impenetrable.
Kuno laughed and put down Invigoration for one of his Blue eye White Dragon (3200/2500).
Ranma put down Ancient Elf and Mystic Elf and ended his turn.
Kuno mirrored his invigoration for his other Blue Eyes White Dragon (3200/2500).
Ranma put down Tweedledum and Tweedledee, a magic card that allowed a boost or equipment magic card to work simultaneously for two monsters without decreasing it's potency and used it for Book of Secret Arts to power up the Ancient Elf (1750/1500) and the Mystic Elf (1100/2300).
Kuno invigorated his hidden blue eyes White Dragon (3200/2500) and played a protecting trap card, Dragon's Cage. It would protect his dragon for one whole turn when activated, but only against non-draconian monsters.
Ranma put down his Red Eyes Black Dragon (2400/2000) and he put his own Blue Eyes White Dragon in play (3000/2500).
Kuno put a new card down, a trap card, Mirror Force, down.
Ranma put down a magic card called Dragon Nails that would increase both of his dragons attack points, due to the Tweedledum and Tweedledee card, and also placed another magic card, facedown.
Kuno put a samurai in silver armor on the field, Steel Samurai (1600/1500).
Ranma smirked as he saw Kuno draw a magic card, Swords of Revealing light, a card that would immobilize him and destroy the dark veil. It didn't work because of the spellbinding circle.
Ranma used the Polyerisation card that he had left facedown to fuse his two dragons and as it's power was doubled by Tweedledum and Tweedledee. It also fused the two spell-casters, which were both busy weaving a spell since their deployment, by fusing they increased the power of the spell. Therefore he created Twin Metal Dragon and Elven Sage. He then to end his turn, the spell-caster was ordered to give the dragon a greatly enhanced attack and defense points, until it was close to being on par with the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon.
Then Kuno used the Samurai's throwing star attack to destroy his castle.
Ranma however wasn't annoyed, but Kuno was wetting himself at the sight of a giant black and white dragon with four eyes where normally there were only two, one on top of the other, the top ones blue the bottom ones red. The blue-robbed, Elven Mage and his rope of light connecting himself to the dragon didn't go unnoticed. Kuno would attack but the pack of reproducing Basic Insects and Chaos Shield rendered that impossible.
Ranma smiled wider as he saw Kuno get nervous and put another warrior on the field Celtic Guardian (1400/1200).
Ranma put down the magic card Harpies Feather Duster, then turned over a facedown magic card Change of Heart. This destroyed both the magic cards and trap cards on Kuno's side, and, being doubled still by Tweedledum and Tweedledee, Change of Heart took Control of Kuno's two Dragons and made them attack each other with white lightening. Kuno's life points went from '2000' to '500' in a storm of pixels.
"Kuno," taunted Ranma. "Nice Dragons, very, um, white. I'll tell you what if you manage to win this; I'll give you my Blue Eyes White Dragon and Red Eyes Black Dragon. However, when you lose though I want the Blue eyes White Dragons in your possession, all of them! Or, then again, perhaps you are too much of a coward."
"I am no coward," shouted Kuno, "I accept!"
Sucker, thought Ranma.
Kuno drew two magic cards called Black Hole and Invigoration; first he put his monsters in defense. Then he used black hole.
Ranma barely flinched, as all his monsters were swept away like particle of dust. ~2000~ - ~600~
Then to finish his turn, Kuno used Invigoration to enhance his now revealed hidden Blue Eyes White Dragon, protected by the trap card. The revealed dragon conjured some confused glances from all concerned.
The Vice-principal became very suspicious. He put his case onto his lap and opened it to find the prize Blue Eyes White Dragon missing! He glared accusingly at Kuno, who didn't notice. 'That boy was in so much trouble!'
Ranma then procured a Reborn the Monster card, which he used to resurrect his Two Metal Dragon and the Elven Sage, thanks again the unaffected Tweedledum and Tweedledee. He ended it all by using his boosted Two Metal Dragon to attack with Carbon Charging Carnage, a beam of energy, electricity and fire. Kuno's dragon didn't stand a chance. Kuno lost all his life points in a storm of white pixels.
"Ladies and Gentlemen. Kuno Tatewaki is disqualified for the theft and utilization of the Prize Card. Saotome Ranma is the Winner both by default and by dueling. During the game also, there was a bet made by the two contestant, as it was agreed to, Kuno Tatewaki must deliver all three of the Blue Eyes White Dragons to Saotome Ranma, immediately."
Both duelists were back on the ground were a surly and angry Kuno handed over the three cards. When Ranma turned with out saying that you, his demented mind used it as a reason to attack.
The fight didn't last; when Kuno jumped Ranma leant forward and pointed his foot towards Kuno. When Kuno impacted, Ranma did a forward flip, causing the wannabe-samurai to fly ten feet away, between stands.
"Ladies and Gentlemen. Saotome Ranma is our Fruikan Champion who will duel as our representative at the Inter-City championships. If he succeeds at the inter-city he will be our Tokyo representative at the Japanese championships. If he succeeds at that, he will be Japans representative at the Inter-Continental championships. Thank you all for coming. We all hope you enjoyed it. Drinks and refreshments are in the..."
Everyone was already gone!
End of Chapter 1.
Yu-gi-oh crossover with Ranma 1/2
by Naquiel
Disclaimer - Ranma and Yu-gi-oh don't belong to me so please don't sue.
~~~~#~~~~
Chapter 1
Ranma was on his futon, his legs still crossed, but he was laying on the futon with his back and the floor with his head, the Puzzle in his hands. His eyes were open and his mind alive as he processes all of Yami's memories and personality, assimilating all spiritual data and incorporating it with his own. It became clear, to him, the apparent strengths and weaknesses of his two personalities, Ranma had greater control over his martial techniques and experience with modern society and lifestyles where as Yami had the magical skill, social knowledge and skill. A similar thing was evident with their powers, Ranma's Chi skills and large aura, and Yugi's Sa, the power of the Shadow Realm, and his powerful mystic corona. The person who looked out of Ranma's eyes and thought with his mind, wasn't Ranma and he wasn't Yami, he was both, yet neither. Where Ranma was arrogant, his fusion had pure confidence, where Yami was short-tempered, his fusion had a decent patience, but a horrible temper when his patience reached its end. Ultimately he was a completely different person.
Perhaps I will keep the name Ranma, thought the fused entity; after all I am living his/my life. He checked his mind to sort out what had happened and found that it still hurt when he thought about his Mother, and yet he was reassured that his emotions hadn't changed.
Ranma spent the night thinking things over until he got fed up and went to the Dojo.
Ranma started a kata before he even got there, dancing amongst the stone paths and Koi pond. He went through thirty katas in seconds, a task that few other martial artists could hope to do at his age. During that morning he learnt how much his martial artistry had improved, not a bit. All in all, it was fine and dandy to Ranma, he couldn't trust things that weren't gained through sweat and blood. He was glad for something, Yami's magic would take sometime to manifest and a while of training to bring to the surface.
"Hey, Sis," asked Nabiki, tiredly rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she came down the stairs and into the kitchen, her sister's domain. "What's that noise coming from the Dojo?" The noise she was referring to be the occasional cracking noises and sonic booms that could be heard in the kitchen.
Kasumi's ever-cheerful smile answered, "Ranma's training."
Nabiki looked at her sister and frowned, "How long?"
"Since before I got up," smiled Kasumi.
Abruptly the noises stopped and after being heralded by the rapid sound of footfalls, Ranma emerged from the back door. Ranma had a smile on his face, a sweat-sodden shirt in his right-hand, wearing a spare, clean shirt and he held his pigtail in his left. He wore a golden downward-pointing pyramid pendant 8cm tall, hanging by some string. The girls were shocked to see it. Ranma and jewelry just didn't go well together. And, yet, here Ranma was wearing a rather large piece of jewelry.
"Thanks Kas-chan. Oh, I've already had breakfast and if anyone needs me I'll be in the Dojo!"
He bounced out the door on his way to the Dojo, soon the sound of battered concrete crumbling could be heard.
It was then that Nabiki and Kasumi had the same, unprovoked, thought, 'I wish Daddy didn't engage him to Akane. No good will-come from it.' Then again, they were the ones that gave him to Akane something that at that moment they regretted, especially with the knowledge of what had occurred, since the engagement came to light.
Ranma walked down a street filled with clothes stores. He was alone but for a handful of people shopping or passing through. He made a beeline to his favorite clothes shop, one that had the largest array of Chinese silk clothes in the whole district of Nerima, if not all of Tokyo.
He entered the shop. It was filled with racks that displayed the various silk clothes, and all the furniture, even the walls, were either wooden, or had wooden panels. Ranma liked this shop so much, not because of the prices or the large selection, but because of the kindly old gentleman that ran the clothes store.
"Ah, Ranma, good to see you again!" stated a nearby rack of clothes, just before an aged man walked from behind it.
Ranma was too used to the old man's antics to be phased by them, "Nice to see ya Gramps! Got any good silk shirts and pants?"
"Oh, so you don't want to talk to this old man. It's just 'silk shirts' this, and 'silk pants' that." He said sorrowfully.
Ranma laughed nervously and scratched the back of his neck with his right hand. "Okay, ya wanna talk, alright!"
"Wooo. Now give me all the gossip," ordered the old man cheerfully.
Ranma sweat-dropped at the old man. For some reason the friendly old man was a real gossipmonger! Probably because he was so old!
Two hours of two-way gossip later, Ranma came out of the store with a carrier bag full of silk clothes. Two sets of his usual clothes and one set for special occasions. The formal wear was a black pair of pants with a silver Eastern Dragon curling around the right leg, the shirt was also black with a silver Eastern Dragon coiled around his chest, the head coiling around the right arm.
Ranma did a high kick for no apparent reason, the same moment an annoying kendoist ran towards him with a brokken. Kuno just suddenly, flew backwards and into unconsciousness.
A second distortion in the air was caused by another, weaker high kick, causing a wave of condensed air to strike the boy, with enough force to render him unconscious for a few more hours than the initial one.
"That idiot will just not learn! Neither will Royoga or Mousse, but at least they're a challenge," He continued muttering darkly about idiots and weaklings as he walked the Dojo.
Later that day, the hall telephone rang, and Kasumi went to answer it. She came back into the kitchen with the wireless handset and from there, she walked out to the Dojo, where Ranma had gone into shortly after coming home, muttering to himself. When she got to the Dojo she was amazed to see what she saw. Ranma was sitting cross-legged in the center of the Dojo with his cerulean aura burning around him, he shot out his hands from his sides at time, causing a small sonic boom and with air pressure chopped a brick of concrete in half, 10 meters away.
She called to him and his aura dissipated.
"Phone call, Ranma."
"Who is it," asked Ranma not moving from his position, thinking about his unarmed revision of Kuno's techniques.
"It's you mother!" Kasumi nearly jumped out her skin as suddenly Ranma was next to her, gently taking the phone, put it to his ear and mouthing a thank-you.
Kasumi turned and walked back to her kitchen, her mind on what could be made for dinner.
"Yeah, Mom," said Ranma worriedly thinking, 'what if she's needing medical attention', etc.
"Son, I'd like to see you, please come to my home!" said Nodaka from the other side of the line.
"Mom. Is something wrong?" asked Ranma.
"No, dear. Why, should there be?" asked Nodaka curiously.
"Okay then, I'll come now!"
An hour later Ranma is sitting in his mother's living room, finishing off his tea when his mother began to explain why she called him.
"Well, son. After your father and yourself went on your training trip, I became bored. I tried getting part-time jobs, but they made me depressed. I tried stamp collecting, but I just didn't take to it, then I discovered Duel Monsters, this wonderful card game. You see an old friend of mine runs a Duel Monster store, with some other card games included, but mainly Duel Monsters. I went to visit her at her shop and I was amazed at how wonderful Duel Monsters were, particularly after I was a spectator at a match. So I arranged for a starter pack and a few boosters and my friend offered me this discount, on the condition that I help her every Easter, her busiest time of the year.
"I was in a win-win situation, an activity involving something I was interested in and allowed to evolve my hobby further. I have amassed an awfully powerful deck and well, I found that Duel Monsters are quite popular at your school at the moment and I would like you to have them, after all I won't have a use for them soon." Nodaka gazed in the reflective surface of her tea, seeing her own face and the ceiling, both warped, for some reason it seemed ironic!
She was surprised when she felt strong fingers take her cup and embrace her. Ranma didn't say anything just held his mother as she began sobbing. As she wept, Ranma felt a single droplet run down his face.
"Thanks, Mom. I'll make you proud." he choked out.
"I guess I'll need to teach you, dear son." Chuckled Nodaka, wiping her tears away daintily with a cotton handkerchief.
"Um, not really I already know a bit about Duel Monsters, ah, from school." Replied Ranma hesitatingly.
"Oh, well. Can't have everything. Son, let me show you some of my cards, well," she smiled, "Your cards, now."
They sat, side by side and Nodaka showed Ranma some of her, now his best cards.
She held up two cards with odd magic-eye patterns on the back, the kind you need to get your eyes just right to see. "You, now, have in your possession one of the four existing Blue Eyes White Dragons and one of the nine existing Red Eyes Black Dragons. In fact a little birdie told me that the four Blue Eyes White Dragons when brought together and aligned in a certain way would create a God card, but only if in conjunction with a fifth unknown card and a Polyerisation magic card."
"Really, Mum! What is it? Is it true?"
"Oh, Kami-sama himself probably knows but we mere mortals, don't have a clue!" she laughed, "In fact there is a similar rumor about the Red Eye Black Dragon, quite ridiculous really." Said Nodaka thoughtfully.
"What rumor?"
"It's really quite impossible, ridiculous and impractical, but, if you want. The story goes like this. Um... you do know about the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon? Three Blue Eyes White Dragons fused together."
"Yeah," replied Ranma, his curiosity growing.
"Well the story is to bring all nine Red Eyes together and to fuse them into three Red Eyes Ultimate Dragons, and apparently after fusing them into the ultimate state, to fuse the ultimate dragons into one dragon. A god dragon of all things, similar to the Blue Eyes White Dragons rumored 'supreme' form. Quite ridiculous, nine cards can't fuse together no matter what steps you take, only five monsters can be placed on the field."
Ranma frowned and thought to himself, this is new, I knew of no fourth or fifth god card, fusion's or otherwise! This will bear further looking into!
"Oh, and finally," stated his mother as she drew another card from the still tall deck, "The Head of Exodia. Exodia is made of five pieces, once assembled he destroys all enemy monsters and you automatically win. However Exodia's pieces are unique, with only one copy worldwide, and it is exceptionally hard to assemble them all. The pieces can also be played as monsters, the head at 1000/1000 and the limbs at 300/400. Don't forget that you now have a great deal more cards than just the ones I have shown you."
"It's a great deck, Mom. How did you get such powerful cards?" asked Ranma.
"Well, it was mostly luck and gut instinct, really. I am really quite proud of it. Well, Taka gave me a box, that I would choose, out of her inventory, you see, and I would pick two or just one booster pack from each. Every time I did it I went with just a feeling I had, it's done quite well for me."
"Well, Mom, you have..."
"You. You, have. I have just given them to you!"
"Yeah, well, um. I have one piece of Exodia and One each of two of the rarest dragon cards there are, along with a God card. Well, as good as this is, I think I'll do my best to get all the rarest cards!"
"That's my Son," laughed Nodaka as she hugged her son, her face beaming at his enthusiasm.
Besides, Ranma thought, Ill need these to get to the other Millenium Items.
Ranma was in his room with a map, his new deck, and his Millenium Puzzle on his futon. He had the end of the Puzzles string in one hand and the Blue Eyes White Dragon card in the other. The puzzle was waving its' point around the top of the map, with Ranma observing closely.
So, my senses are right, there are three other Blue Eyes Whites Dragons about in Nerima, pity however that my powers haven't emerged enough to pinpoint them. From what Mother mentioned, there are only three other Blue Eyes White Dragon. Mother also mentioned there was a secret to them all being together: something about if the cards are all together, face down and in a certain pattern, their backs show data for a new Dragon, a god type. But could only be seen and activated by a fifth unknown card and a Polyerisation magic card.
Apparently only a select few were privy to that knowledge, Ranma felt honored and sleepy.
Ranma was awoken by a wave of cold water. He, now she, groaned as she heard the screech of, "Wake up, you Pervert!"
His bleary eyes opened to look at her sometimes-cute-most-of-the-time-evilly-twisted face and muttered something about her being a tomboy. She was already out the room, so thankfully, Ranma wasn't to be malleted, for now.
Ranma walked along the Canal wall, with Akane fuming down on the pavement, scowling at the reminder of how much better Ranma was as a Martial Artist. Soon the reached the gates of the school where Akane proceeded to beat up the mob of boys that had reformed recently.
Akane was in a sea of groaning, moaning forms in short time. A single boy came from behind a tree and started talking in Shakespeare's-turning-in-his-grave literature.
"Truly are a boorish lot," stated the boy with his brokken unsheathed. "Akane Tendo, I would date with thee." He charged and prepared to fight his beloved tigress, until he found a fist in his gut, forcing him back thirteen meters.
"Hiya, Kuno," smiled Ranma at the red-faced boy. "I thought it was you who started this up again."
The boy, got up and prepared his kendo stance to defeat the foul sorcerer, after all the incident outside the clothes shops was mere dark magic. Nothing can stand against his righteous wrath. Yeah, right!
"Hey Kuno," smiled Ranma 'The foul sorcerer' Saotome, "I have just made up this technique, that I just have to try out. Since Royoga isn't about, you'll have to do."
Ranma took a side-ways stance with his stretched arm, with his palm facing Kuno. "Let me introduce you to Beta-ha-fu Inferuno!" (Better Half of an Inferno) A sheet of flame exploded from under Kuno and above him, pining him and scorching him in heat and flame, at the same time, Ranma released a rain of chi spheres at his opponent. The spheres didn't hit Kuno, but missed him, instead started to circle him, a stream of red dust, the next second the fire and chi turned into a tornado, akin to a miniature, Amazon patented, Dragon Ascension Blast. All this took a second and a half, the tornado last two more seconds. This was the technique at it's weakest, proved by the face that Kuno was still standing.
"Ha, the evil Sorcerer's magic fail in the face of a noble hear..." he swooned from dehydration and Ranma was already walking into the school.
Nabiki looked from her window, her slaves... Uh, her colleagues clustered around her, or taking bets and reporting losses and profits. She noticed the unusual way in which Ranma dealt with Kuno. Normally, Ranma punted Kuno into lower Earth orbit, but today he took the trouble to utilize a chi technique, one like she had never seen.
She nearly purred when she thought about how many people would like to know of Ranma's new technique, as a warning and as something else, it didn't matter to her, just as long as she got paid.
No one bothered Ranma for the rest of the day until lunch when Akane sat next to him.
"Why'd you do that to him?" she spat.
"Why, are you admitting you like Kuno?" said Ranma snidely, his Yami side really fed-up of what Ranma had to deal with, a lot of it originating from this girl. This how- ever was him, allowing his anger to be vented towards Akane, to get rid of her. It didn't work.
"No, it was my fight. You shouldn't have interfered!"
"Look, after what I did to Kuno you'll be free of him for a few days, and the boys that follow Kuno have a little food for thought, so you'll be free of them at least for today and tomorrow. Now go away, I was enjoying my food!"
Akane was too angry to do anything but comply, a succulent rarity.
At the end of the day, Ranma was walking home alone Akane giving him the cold shoulder, which was fine for Ranma. Whatever love for Akane that may have existed was eroded away by the malletings, the insults, long before the fusion of Ranma and Yami.
He was thinking of what Hiroshi and Daisuke were talking about earlier:
'"Hey Ranma, man." laughed Hiroshi, "Daisuke is killing my monsters here!"
They were in the Cafeteria close to a large tree on the edge of the grounds; the benches were old haunts for Duelists.
Ranma came over and observed Daisuke and Hiroshi's Duel Monsters Game. They talked away amicably throughout, laughing at jokes and moaning dramatically when they lost a monster or a card. He sat next to them and observed their play. Hiroshi was basing his attacks on fire-type monsters and boosts, while Daisuke was basing his on wind-type monsters and traps. It came down to two cards, both of their life-points at two hundred. Hiroshi played The Flame-Swordsman (1800/1600) while Daisuke played his Winged Dragon Guardian of the Fortress (1400/1200) both in defense mode.
Daisuke equalized his Dragon with the Swordsman with a magic card, called Scales of Power which brought both cards to (1600/1400) and also placed down Spellbinding Circle to protect the dragon by trapping the Flame-Swordsman if he attacked.
Hiroshi used Salamandra to boost his Flame-Swordsman to (2100/1900) and also used his Harpies Feather Duster to destroy all trap and magic cards on his opponent's side.
Daisuke placed a magic card face down on the boards.
He then used a card called Best Things in Life are Free.
The card made it so that even in defense mode if the opponents monster is destroyed, there is still a toll on the life points, however, the players own monster [1 monster only] is immune for same three turns from any toll on the life points.
Hiroshi used Chaos Shield to protect his monster and ended his turn by placing a trap card, No Defense.
Daisuke turned over his hidden card, De-spell and placed a card called Horn of Heaven. De-spell negated Hiroshi's defenses and Horn of Heaven sacrificed his Winged Dragon to kill 1 enemy monster. Therefore Daisuke won by a whisker, not losing his 200 points due to the effects of the Best Things in Life are Free magic card.
Daisuke did a small jig in his seat and gathered his cards. Hiroshi did the same, minus the jig, not in the least annoyed that he lost a game. "So Ranma, we hear tales that you are now a duelist!"
Ranma frowned and opened his mouth to ask, but it was so obvious, Nabiki, the mercenary information gatherer and blackmailer. He shook his head; he would have to deal with her. "Yeah, I am now!"
"Cool, wanna duel?"
Ranma smirked innocently, "Me with a great champion duelist like yourself? Sure"
Daisuke blushed and scratched the back of his head. "Well, I am good!"
Soon both of them were in position, Ranma swapping seats with Hiroshi.
Ranma started with a defensive strategy that his mother taught him. Multiply, and in defense.
Daisuke used his Winged Dragon and attacked, destroying Ranma's monster, or so he thought. When Ranma didn't take the monster card of it's place, Daisuke looked at him questioningly.
"Don't you know that any monster with attack power less than 500 hundred can be multiplied by the multiply magic card? Daisuke, you destroyed only one of my multiplied Basic Insects, not all of them. This is a powerful defense, learn it.
"You see," He chatted as he drew two more cards from his deck, "With my Basic Insect being multiplied many times, and in defense mode. No matter how many you destroy, I won't lose any points and through out I can utilize a specific strategy that uses this to my advantage." He put down another card, in front of the wide-eyed Daisuke, Chaos Shield. "For example by combining Multiply and Chaos Shield, my field has now become an impenetrable wall, separating itself from your field."
Daisuke thought, huh, Ranma's crap at card games, how is he so good all of a sudden! Daisuke brought his attention to the game and saw that the Chaos shield provided a protection to the Basic Insects and another card was placed down by Ranma, Spell-binding circle. That meant Daisuke couldn't attack him or his shield with monsters or magic, therefore he would focus on setting traps.
Ranma looked at the determined face of Daisuke as he choose his next card Dragon Nails to enhance his Winged Dragon (1800/1600), and a trap card, Roaring Tide, a deflector of water and wind attacks.
Ranma plucked two cards from his hand that he put down, facedown, Magical Ghost (1300/1400) and The Sword of Dark Destruction, which raised the Magical Ghost's power to 1700/1600.
Daisuke enhanced his dragon further by using Invigoration and laying another monster card Curse of Dragon.
Ranma put down the King of Ghost, which brought up his zombie-type Magical Ghost by 200 attack points every turn. Magical Ghost: 1900/1600.
Daisuke continued to boost up his Winged Dragon, and then polymerized Winged Dragon (2400/2000) with Curse of Dragon (2000/1500) to create Accursed Dragon (2800/2500). Daisuke smiled, Ranma couldn't possibly defeat his combo! Then he saw Ranma smile.
Ranma knew his presently played monsters weren't strong enough to defeat this new monster, even with his Magical Ghost now at 2100/1600, however he had a plan. He put down Dark Magician (2500/2100) and used polymerization to fuse Magical Ghost and Dark Magician along with the giant pumpkin, King of Ghost, to create Dark King Ghost (3000/2800).
Ranma learnt however all that would achieve was making a superb victory, not the close call that he thought, as he drew Harpies Feather Duster and placed it face-up, decimating Daisuke. The traps present were destroyed, along with a few magic cards that were face down, waiting to be played. Ranma them put his Chaos Shield in the discard pile, in an apparent suicide maneuver.
It was then that Daisuke had his turn, he attacked with a new monster, Celtic Guardian (1400/1200), at Ranma's Basic Insect, and multiplied the monster with Elegant Egotist, hoping that he could create an equal number of monsters to Ranma's own Basic Insects.
Ranma shook his head, and turned over his facedown cards. Daisuke saw Ranma had Basic Insect, The Dark Magician, The Magical Ghost and The King of Ghost monster cards, his magic and trap cards consisted of The Dark Sword of Destruction, Multiply, of course, and Polyerisation that had been used on the three dark monsters. Daisuke made a quick mental calculation and gulped. Then he smiled.
"I don't think there is any doubt about who'll win, is there Ranma?" he laughed, "I give-up!"
Ranma and Dasuke collected their cards and Hiroshi spoke up. "Wow, you're good Ranma. Have you thought about entering the Duelists competition?"
Ranma looked blankly. "Huh!"
"Jeez, man," laughed Daisuke cheerfully. "The whole school has been buzzing with it! Illustrated Illusions have donated loads of the latest in Duelist Holo-stadiums to schools over the country; we were lucky enough to get one. To celebrate it, the school is having a competition using the Holo-stadium, tomorrow!"
"What is the prize?"
"You'll never guess!"
"I won't have to if you tell me!"
"A real beauty of a card, a Blue Eyes White Dragon! One of the four in the world and the winner gets to go to a inter-school competition along with the second and third runner-ups! And after that, it's inter-country; no one actually knows anything about the ultimate prize except that it is a unique card. Everyone's talking about it! Some think it's one of the legendary God type cards!"'
And now as Ranma walked home, thinking about it, he found the idea tempting. To get all of the Blue Eyes White Dragon, a nearly impossible task, would make his mothers last days perhaps more happy. Even if it was a slim chance, he had to do it!
That night Ranma was, once again, on his futon. He held the puzzle in one hand and the deck in the other, he was cross-legged and in his sleeping gear. In a small flash a few cards appeared floating in the air in front of Ranma and slid silently into the deck, under Ranma's scrutiny. Ranma put away the deck and prepared to sleep.
He was smiling as he lay down to sleep. He had just summoned Yami's best cards, the Accended Angels, seven cards that were both, monsters, with effects, and magic cards. They were good for a pinch and very flexible.
As he slept, the telephone rang, shortly answered by a still-awake Kasumi, who after taking the call barged into Ranma's room and shook him awake.
"Ranma, Hiroshi's been in an accident, Ranma!" she shouted at Ranma.
Ranma grasped her by the upper arms and demanded an explanation.
A few hours later Ranma was at the hospital. After asking where he was, Ranma rushed to Hiroshi's room, where his mother, father and Daisuke, who phoned Nabiki earlier, were waiting by Hiroshi's still form, encased in bandages, well his legs and right hand, at any rate. Hiroshi heard him and asked his to come closer.
"Dude what happened to you?" asked Ranma concerned.
"Car, me, big bang against my legs and my arm. You know, nothing much." he made light of it, but Ranma could tell there was something, Hiroshi wanted to tell him but couldn't because his family and Daisuke.
Ranma gave a look and a gesture. They all understood, and quietly left.
Ranma brought his attention to Hiroshi, "What is it man?"
Hiroshi laughed, "I wanted to go to that competition, Ranma. You know, show everyone that I could do something, even if I did lose, at least I could show them all, that I had the will to try! You know?"
Ranma nodded: smiling in comprehension.
"Ranma I'm not going to be going to the competition now, but I would feel better if a part of me went!" Hiroshi used his undamaged hand to reach to his bedside table and pick up a leather case, containing a deck of Duel Monster cards. He flicked it open on his chest, brought the deck out and slowly went through each one of them, looking for one in particular. He smiled when he found it and passed it to Ranma, it was the right leg of Exodia, he looked for another card and handed it to Ranma, the Crush Virus trap card, along with Dark Swords Man (2600/2300).
"They are my best cards. The right leg of Exodia is useless in and of itself, however it can be played at 300/400, infect it with the Crush Virus trap card and it will infect the enemy. The enemy can't use anything over 1500 attack points, that doesn't stop them enhancing their cards with magic though. When that happens you can slaughter them with Dark Swords Man, especially if you use Harpies Feather Duster in the same turn. Please, use them at the competition. If you find yourself incapable, I won't blame you. Just, if you can."
Ranma looked hard at the cards. "You have one of the Exodia cards?"
"No, I'm giving them to you for good!"
"You misunderstand me, YOU have, okay, had an Exodia card!"
"Yeah, I got it in a booster pack ages ago."
Ranma smiled, "That means I now have two pieces of Exodia now!"
Hiroshi's eye widened and his mouth imitated a fish.
"I have the body and now the right leg of Exodia. It's gotta be Karma!"
The next day Ranma was awoken by Akane in her customary fashion by followed by a kick to the ribs that did little but tickle, even if it had the force to crack concrete. The night before, Ranma went from the hospital reassured that Hiroshi was stable and was going to be all right, just bed-ridden for the few months.
Instead of going to school that morning, Ranma went to his mother's home, where she taught him more about duel monsters, her personnel experiences and strategies. Ranma hadn't the heart he knew most of what she said, by heart, but what he didn't know; he absorbed like a dry sponge. This continued until six, when Nodaka and her son left to go to Fruikan high.
Ranma was going to compete, thought Nodaka. His first professional, well, semi-professional tournament.
She was half worried that he would do well, and half-worried he would do badly. If he found it too easy or too difficult, his motivation could die. The best battle for him was a tough one but one that he could win, because if he could, he would.
They took a taxi to the High School, however, at the school, sinister things were happening.
The door to the vice-principal's office opened with a squeak as a dark figure walked into the room, stealthily and silently.
The shadowy figure crept to the briefcase, containing the prize card. The shadow-covered person thought to itself, it's not stealing. I'll win it anyway. I'm just getting my prize early. That's all!
He/She/It opened the slim briefcase and took the slip of thin card.
Ranma and his mother arrived at the school gates. Ranma paid the cab driver, grumbling about the price, and followed his mother in doors.
After three hours of getting registered, Ranma arranged a seat for his mother, and waited for all the contestants to be arranged. The first battle began between two kids a year younger than Ranma. He was Blue 5, in the blue podium for battle no. 5. Ranma observed the other four battles closely, analyzing their strategies and assimilating their styles.
Five minutes before the battle no.5, Ranma took out his deck and used his chestnuts-roasting-over-an-open-fire revision Evolving Deck, where he used the great speed to rearranged his deck without people seeing his strategies.
Then it came about, battle no. 5. Saotome Ranma, and Tendo Nabiki.
There was a spotlight of illumination, making the Duelists, in their podiums, visible.
"In the Red podium, Tendo Nabiki," There was a small smattering of applause.
"And in the Blue podium, Saotome Ranma," following this was both the spotlight illumination and a great deal of enthusiastic cheering from Nabiki-haters.
"Ladies and gentlemen, to start the fields off, Tendo Nabiki has requested her half to be wasteland and Saotome Ranma has requested graveyard territory, and as this is our first Duel their requests have been granted by the judges! Now let's Duel!"
"So, Ranma will you play first or shall I?" Smirked Nabiki, the Ice-queen of Fruikan.
"After you, of course," smiled Ranma pleasantly. They both took the first six cards from their deck and made them into hands. Ranma smiled as he saw his cards: Dark Magician (2500/2100), Summoned Skeleton (2500/1200), Sword Stalker (2400/1800), the magic cards: Call of the Haunted, Polyerisation and the trap card: SpellBinding Circle. Perfect, he thought, but put on a grim face, making Nabiki think he had drawn a bad hand, which she bought if the smile on her face was of any inclination.
Nabiki put down a Harpies Lady (1600/1750) and ended her turn.
Ranma put down both Dark Magician and Summoned Skeleton and ended his turn after drawing two new cards: magic cards - Invigoration and Black hole.
Nabiki put down Cyber Armor increasing her monsters' defense and drew a new card.
Ranma smiled, she was trying to make him slip up, by only acting one every turn, a costly mistake. He put down Sword Stalker and Black hole.
Nabiki could only watch in horror as the holographic image showed her monster and even Ranma's own monsters, all three of them, being sucked into a black hole never to return. She looked at Ranma, again with the annoying smirk, looking expectantly at her life-point meter - it fell from 2000 to 1200.
Nabiki was breathing heavily at the damage she had sustained, part out of anger and part out of frustration. She slowly smiled as she saw Ranma's life-points meter, expecting it to fall, and when it didn't she looked at Ranma, who mouth 'defense mode.'
She looked at her hand, full of magic cards and trap cards, without a monster, she couldn't play, she needed to draw a monster from her deck or lose the game. She slowly reached for her deck and lifted a card from it, he looked at it and saw it was her 2nd Harpies Lady card, she gleefully placed it down on the panel and waited for Ranma's reaction.
This was what he was counting on; Nabiki's comeback, now he could really get the game started. He put down Call of the Haunted, which resurrected his monsters as zombies. His zombie Dark Stalker used its' natural ability to call forth the wasted life energies of a fallen ally and as the others were zombies, they didn't need it. Zombie Dark Stalker was raised on par with the Dark Magician at 2500/2100. Instead of attacking the shocked Nabiki, he used the magic Polyerisation card on his three Zombies. The result being a humanoid skeleton with demonic visages, a large sword and intermittent purple rings sunk into its' undead flesh.
"Let me introduce, Magicked Zombie Stalker!" stated Ranma in a normal tone, only showing some small part of his enormous ego.
It was powered up to 3200/2600 along with the field power bonus and death points, which increased every time it died.
Nabiki couldn't understand it, she thought Ranma would be a push-over, even though she heard stories from Daisuke, but here he was, just creating a monster more powerful that what she could hope to enhance her Harpies Lady and in only a few turns. All she could do was raise the defense and give more targets to aim at. She used another Cyber Armor, (2000/1750) along with an Elegant Egotist to both juice-up their defense points by tripling the Harpies each turn.
Ranma sees this and smirked as he put down the Change of Heart card, which gave him control over a Harpies Lady, for 1 turn, then he put down a magic card called Re-flip which allowed Ranma to make three more moves in that turn.
Nabiki couldn't believe it as one of her own juiced up Harpies Ladies joined the other side, however that was to come, during Ranma's three extra moves, made it nothing in comparison.
Ranma placed a Polyerisation card down on the panel and as a result the zombie monster merged with the Harpies Lady, changing very little except being much more lithe and floating. Ranma then gave it an attack power boost with Invigoration. And then for his final-move, he ordered the zombie to attack all the Harpy Ladies with its' Gale Force Decaying Breath.
Nabiki didn't know that you could steal another player's monster and fuse it with another, it just wasn't done, it' couldn't be! She stared coldly at the projection as her Harpy Ladies began to rot and fall down as corpses, she blinked as her life-points went down to zero.
"And there you have it, Ladies and Gentlemen. Saotome Ranma is the Winner." called the announcer's voice. Ranma went down the escalator-cum-floor and went back to his seat in the competitor's area. Nabiki did the same, sparing an odd glance at Ranma.
Ranma had three more one-sided battle like that until he reached the top beside someone else, Kuno Tatewaki. The samurai obsessed moron was in the Blue podium and Ranma in the Red. The field was 100% wasteland.
"Ha, here in the field on strategy and battle, I reign supreme. You, evil sorcerer, shall fall to my feet. Ha, ha, ha." laughed Kuno insanely as Ranma calmly rearranged his deck, put it down and then drew his hand.
Ranma had just as he planned, his Blue Eyes White Dragon, his Red Eye Black Dragon, kept to the side in case Kuno's money got him some powerful cards, his Castle of Dark Illusion, Spell-binding Circle and Polyerisation.
Kuno had finished his spiel about Ranma being a lost soul for going against him and had picked his hand.
Ranma went first by placing down his Castle of Dark Illusion. Then he put down Spellbinding Circle, facedown. A holographic image of a castle floating in the air with mists of pure darkness flowing from it to consume Ranma's wasteland field appeared above the field.
"Ha, darkness itself is no match for the power in my hand." laughed Kuno as he put down two cards, which appeared as holographic images. "Behold my two Blue eyes White Dragon!" The two dragons roared.
Ranma's eye widened and then became steely in determination. Ranma put down multiply and Basic Insect, to re-create the shield/defense system he used with Daisuke.
Kuno laughed, despite his inability to see Ranma's cards and put down another monster card facedown.
Ranma noticed it and his eyes widened, another Blue Eyes White Dragon card. The innate power represented by it was so great; he didn't need to consciously 'look' at it with his magic.
Ranma then looked at the briefcase beside the vice-principal, there was no card in it, what magic he had harnessed told him that. Ranma placed down the Chaos Shield card and Polyerisation, facedown.
With all of his Basic Insects in defense mode and with the Chaos Shield, he was, for now impenetrable.
Kuno laughed and put down Invigoration for one of his Blue eye White Dragon (3200/2500).
Ranma put down Ancient Elf and Mystic Elf and ended his turn.
Kuno mirrored his invigoration for his other Blue Eyes White Dragon (3200/2500).
Ranma put down Tweedledum and Tweedledee, a magic card that allowed a boost or equipment magic card to work simultaneously for two monsters without decreasing it's potency and used it for Book of Secret Arts to power up the Ancient Elf (1750/1500) and the Mystic Elf (1100/2300).
Kuno invigorated his hidden blue eyes White Dragon (3200/2500) and played a protecting trap card, Dragon's Cage. It would protect his dragon for one whole turn when activated, but only against non-draconian monsters.
Ranma put down his Red Eyes Black Dragon (2400/2000) and he put his own Blue Eyes White Dragon in play (3000/2500).
Kuno put a new card down, a trap card, Mirror Force, down.
Ranma put down a magic card called Dragon Nails that would increase both of his dragons attack points, due to the Tweedledum and Tweedledee card, and also placed another magic card, facedown.
Kuno put a samurai in silver armor on the field, Steel Samurai (1600/1500).
Ranma smirked as he saw Kuno draw a magic card, Swords of Revealing light, a card that would immobilize him and destroy the dark veil. It didn't work because of the spellbinding circle.
Ranma used the Polyerisation card that he had left facedown to fuse his two dragons and as it's power was doubled by Tweedledum and Tweedledee. It also fused the two spell-casters, which were both busy weaving a spell since their deployment, by fusing they increased the power of the spell. Therefore he created Twin Metal Dragon and Elven Sage. He then to end his turn, the spell-caster was ordered to give the dragon a greatly enhanced attack and defense points, until it was close to being on par with the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon.
Then Kuno used the Samurai's throwing star attack to destroy his castle.
Ranma however wasn't annoyed, but Kuno was wetting himself at the sight of a giant black and white dragon with four eyes where normally there were only two, one on top of the other, the top ones blue the bottom ones red. The blue-robbed, Elven Mage and his rope of light connecting himself to the dragon didn't go unnoticed. Kuno would attack but the pack of reproducing Basic Insects and Chaos Shield rendered that impossible.
Ranma smiled wider as he saw Kuno get nervous and put another warrior on the field Celtic Guardian (1400/1200).
Ranma put down the magic card Harpies Feather Duster, then turned over a facedown magic card Change of Heart. This destroyed both the magic cards and trap cards on Kuno's side, and, being doubled still by Tweedledum and Tweedledee, Change of Heart took Control of Kuno's two Dragons and made them attack each other with white lightening. Kuno's life points went from '2000' to '500' in a storm of pixels.
"Kuno," taunted Ranma. "Nice Dragons, very, um, white. I'll tell you what if you manage to win this; I'll give you my Blue Eyes White Dragon and Red Eyes Black Dragon. However, when you lose though I want the Blue eyes White Dragons in your possession, all of them! Or, then again, perhaps you are too much of a coward."
"I am no coward," shouted Kuno, "I accept!"
Sucker, thought Ranma.
Kuno drew two magic cards called Black Hole and Invigoration; first he put his monsters in defense. Then he used black hole.
Ranma barely flinched, as all his monsters were swept away like particle of dust. ~2000~ - ~600~
Then to finish his turn, Kuno used Invigoration to enhance his now revealed hidden Blue Eyes White Dragon, protected by the trap card. The revealed dragon conjured some confused glances from all concerned.
The Vice-principal became very suspicious. He put his case onto his lap and opened it to find the prize Blue Eyes White Dragon missing! He glared accusingly at Kuno, who didn't notice. 'That boy was in so much trouble!'
Ranma then procured a Reborn the Monster card, which he used to resurrect his Two Metal Dragon and the Elven Sage, thanks again the unaffected Tweedledum and Tweedledee. He ended it all by using his boosted Two Metal Dragon to attack with Carbon Charging Carnage, a beam of energy, electricity and fire. Kuno's dragon didn't stand a chance. Kuno lost all his life points in a storm of white pixels.
"Ladies and Gentlemen. Kuno Tatewaki is disqualified for the theft and utilization of the Prize Card. Saotome Ranma is the Winner both by default and by dueling. During the game also, there was a bet made by the two contestant, as it was agreed to, Kuno Tatewaki must deliver all three of the Blue Eyes White Dragons to Saotome Ranma, immediately."
Both duelists were back on the ground were a surly and angry Kuno handed over the three cards. When Ranma turned with out saying that you, his demented mind used it as a reason to attack.
The fight didn't last; when Kuno jumped Ranma leant forward and pointed his foot towards Kuno. When Kuno impacted, Ranma did a forward flip, causing the wannabe-samurai to fly ten feet away, between stands.
"Ladies and Gentlemen. Saotome Ranma is our Fruikan Champion who will duel as our representative at the Inter-City championships. If he succeeds at the inter-city he will be our Tokyo representative at the Japanese championships. If he succeeds at that, he will be Japans representative at the Inter-Continental championships. Thank you all for coming. We all hope you enjoyed it. Drinks and refreshments are in the..."
Everyone was already gone!
End of Chapter 1.